Internal Advisory Committee

Abhishek S. Amar specializes in the history of early India and his research interests include archaeological history of Buddhist and Hindu religious traditions in early India. He recently completed his post-doctoral research at IKGF at Ruhr University, Bochum, where he studied inter-religious dynamics between Buddhist and Hindu traditions in the early medieval South Bihar region, the region of South Asia that was the cradle of Buddhism. He completed his Ph.D. from the SOAS, University of London, and his doctoral research focused on the history of Buddhism at Bodhgaya, the site of enlightenment of the Buddha. Amar completed his M. Phil (2002) and M.A (1999) in South Asian history from JNU, New Delhi, India.

Wei-Jen Chang, associate professor of biology, has written or co-written several professional articles in Gene, Protist, Molecular Biology and Evolution and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. During his postdoctoral work at Princeton University, Chang studied gene evolution and genome organization in unicellular organisms. He joined the Hamilton faculty in 2006. Chang earned a bachelor’s degree from National Taiwan University and his master’s degree and doctorate from the State University of New York at Buffalo.

Nathan Goodale, Associate Professor of Anthropology, earned his B.A. in geology and anthropology from Western State College, his M.A. in anthropology from the University of Montana, and his Ph.D. in anthropology from Washington State University. Goodale’s current research is focused on evolutionary approaches to understanding lithic technological organization, the transition to agriculture / resource intensification, and the Neolithic Demographic Transition. Goodale conducts research in the interior Northwest of North America, western coastal Ireland, and the Near East. Research emphases include modeling human behavior with quantitative methods, lithic technological organization, and evolutionary approaches to understanding variation in material culture as a byproduct of human behavior and knowledge transmission.

Tina May Hall was named the 2010 winner of the prestigious Drue Heinz Literature Prize. Her book, The Physics of Imaginary Objects, was published by the University of Pittsburgh Press in 2010. Her novella, All the Day's Sad Stories, was published by Caketrain Press in 2009. Hall's fiction has appeared in many literary journals, and she has been nominated three times for the Pushcart Prize. Her teaching interests include monsters, the gothic, technology’s relationship with the body, contemporary fiction and experimental women writers. She earned an M.F.A. in fiction from Bowling Green State University and a doctorate from the University of Missouri.

Chaise LaDousa, associate professor of anthropology, attended the college of the University of Chicago and received his Ph.D. from Syracuse University. He has conducted field research in North India studying languages and the role they play in education and India's rapidly changing political economy. Another project has focused on the importance of fun in expressive culture in institutions of higher education in the United States. He has published numerous professional articles, and has a book in press titled Signs of Play: Faith, Race, and Sex in a College Town.

Deborah Pokinski is working on a study of the images of women in the work of turn-of-the-century American artist William McGregor Paxton. Her research interests include the history of American architecture, especially the late 19th century; history of turn-of-the-century American painting; and women in art. Pokinski wrote The Development of the American Modern Style, among with other works. She curated two exhibitions at the Emerson Gallery in collaboration with art history majors and curated "Sculpture Space Inside Outside," sponsored by the Emerson. She earned a doctorate in modern art history from Cornell University.